Construction week online says:
Contractor Arabtec has announced that it will start building the first phase of its project to deliver one million new homes in Egypt by the end of this year.
The Dubai-based contractor said work will start in three cities - Obour, Badr and New Minia - and involve the initial construction of up to 120,000 homes within integrated cities containing schools, hospitals and places of worship.
Arabtec said that it is setting up a group of companies to conclude contracts for the building phase.
An agreement was reached following recent meetings in Cairo between Arabtec chairman Khadem Al Qubaisi and Egypt's prime minister, Ibrahim Mahlab. It involves Arabtec providing some housing units and public service buildings in return for the land on which homes will be built and access to utilities networks.
Eng Khaled Abbas, Egypt's assistant minister of housing, said: "The company will not sell vacant land, but affordable housing units, then it will deliver public services buildings to the Urban Communities Authority, who will in turn transfer their ownership to the concerned authorities."
Arabtec signed a forty billion dollars with Egyptian authorities in March this year that will see it deliver one million homes to a total of 13 cities. It is being delivered through a subsidiary, Arabtec Egypt for Property Development.
esolution construction and Engineering designed one third of the project on behlaf of alum. forms supplier that Arabtec hired to construct the same area of the project